Residual Labor Ratio

Residual Labor Ratio is the share of call handling that still needs a human after an AI voice agent goes live: escalations, edge-case intents, consent exceptions, and QA review. Agencies that price a retainer on the demo call rather than the residual labor end up absorbing that gap at their own cost. The ratio is measurable before signing: pull 50 to 100 real call recordings, tag each by intent, and count how many require judgment a voice agent cannot supply. A dental group with 60 percent appointment-booking calls may carry a residual near 15 percent, while a legal intake line with identity verification and payment steps can sit above 40 percent. Trillet's audit-trail design for regulated verticals and Ruby's hybrid human-plus-AI receptionist model represent two different answers to the same residual problem. Price the offer only after the ratio is known.